Two Rooms for the Night
by Veridissima
Summary: Arya and her family were driving down to King's Landing, when they decided to stop for the night. And in the middle of the Riverlands, there was no place better than the Inn at the Crossroads. For SandyD12. Fill for Arya and Gendry Week 2015 (Midnight, Wet, Nervous and Heat)


_This is my entry for Arya and Gendry Week 2015, and it fills more than one prompt: Midnight (Day 1), Wet (Day 3), Nervous (Day 6) and Heat (Day 7); and with that I felt it was only appropriate that I post it on the last day._

 _This is also dedicated to Sandy, since this idea came from many talks about Jeyne Heddle being Gendry's friend, so yeah… this will include that friendship, as well as the rest of the gang (Willow, Hot Pie and Lommy)._

 _Also to proofread, I normally print out my writing; but my printer is not working, so I had to do it by reading on the screen, and that always works worse for me, so I'm sorry for any typos._

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

The Inn at the Crossroads was a small place, but very old too; nowadays most people just called it a Bed & Breakfast, the most famous one in the Riverlands. And Gendry liked working here.

Gendry had helped rebuild this business from the start, from the moment Jeyne bought the place with her sister – it had been four years ago, and it was obvious how much had changed since they first acquired the place.

It was a family business, or a friends business to be more precise; they had all grown up in the same orphanage, and had worked many jobs until Jeyne, the oldest of the five at 21, had decided to buy the place with the help of her sister and friends. Only Hot Pie had a fixed job – cooking; Jeyne managed the place, but just like Willow, Lommy and Gendry, she did everything else that was needed.

Today started like every other day, Gendry woke up at 6am and quickly got dressed, and had something to eat, before making the short walk to the Inn. He greeted Lommy who was at the lobby, while everyone else at this hour was in the kitchen. Gendry's job at this hour was always fixing the dining room, so everything would be ready at 7.30 am when the guests started coming down for breakfast.

Gendry was finishing setting up the tables, when Jeyne started bringing the food to the room, only the one that was not temperature sensitive.

"Hi, Gendry!"

"Hi, Jeyne! Did you sleep okay?"

"I did. You?"

"Yeah. Normal."

"You're staying here tonight?" she asked, as he came closer. Besides Willow and Jeyne living in the Inn; Lommy, Hot Pie and Gendry took turns staying over at the Inn with them; Lommy had stayed last night, today was Gendry's turn.

"Yeah, it's my turn. How's the food going?"

"Right on time, Gen. Don't worry."

"Need help with the food!" Willow yelled from the small window, leading to the kitchen.

"Right!" Jeyne yelled back to her sister, before turning to Gendry. "Start turning on the freezer and the heating." Gendry nodded, and as always he did as Jeyne told him too – she was the boss.

He turned on both machines for her, and then when they were already working properly, he helped bring up the food inside, and place it in the right places for when the guest came downstairs.

And then Lommy and Gendry took the tables, while Hot Pie and Willow were still in the kitchen, Jeyne took the lobby again. He greeted every costumer that came in, most of them were old costumers, people that came him many times a year – the business man, the old couple that came here every other weekend, and the recent widow who was been now staying over for a few weeks now.

Gendry shouldn't have favorites, but the old couple were definitely his favorite guests. The lady still treated him like a little kid, and always asked him if he had a girlfriend.

"No I still haven't found a girlfriend," he told her this time too.

"You will, son. Such a pretty face you have," she said, while patting his butt.

"What about the girl in the front – Jeyne?" the man always asked this same question too.

"He has told you many times, dear, that she's like a sister to him. Also I talked to Jeyne last time I was here, she said you two dated when you were young – you broke up amicably."

"We did, years ago. She's better as my friend, a very good friend." It was right after he moved here that they dated, there were a few kisses and nothing more, they moved a long time from that – she was part of his family now.

"You could one of those packs we see in the movies, when you're forty and if neither is married. I had one of those…" the husband said.

"With who?" the wife asked, and Gendry left them to their conversation.

"Asking about a girlfriend again?" Lommy asked him. "They've never asked me that, you know. Is it that unbelievable that I could have a girlfriend?"

"Of course not, but when was the last time you got a girl's number…"

"Shut up, Gen," Lommy said, before discreetly flipping him off and disappearing to attend another guest calling for him.

The rest of the meal went okay, the leftovers were kept, so they could eat it later, probably at lunch – normally there were very few lunch leftovers. Everyone got to work at cleaning the tables, all but Jeyne who at this time was probably advising the recently widow to what she should try to do today; and then would check out the business man from the inn.

And when the hotel was free of guests, they would get to cleaning the rooms, changing the beds, preparing everything for the new guests to arrive and for the return of the old ones as well.

* * *

Every few moments, Arya regretted agreeing to drive South with her parents and two younger brothers, especially since her youngest brother had became bigger than everyone else in the family, and she had to share the back seat with him.

And Rickon could already be fifteen but he complained as a five year old, and he was driving Arya crazy, while Bran was trying to keep her from punching Rickon, or even yell at him.

"Kids, could you please stop," mother asked again. "We're almost at our stop for the night. I heard that there was a really good inn here."

"I thought we were staying in Riverrun," Bran asked confused.

"Edmure already left for King's Landing. Roslin has never been there, so they are doing the tourist thing."

"I still don't get why Sansa doesn't want to get married at home," Rickon complained again, and Arya noticed their father nodding, but still keeping himself from talking.

"She's been living in King's Landing for years, Rickon. It's her home too," Mom said, with a sad tone.

"Maybe you'll see your little crush there," Arya teased him, and her brother blushed. Rickon had met Shireen Baratheon when he was very young, and during that business dinner he followed the girl around for its entirety.

"Shut up!" Rickon complained, before asking. "You're not getting married in Braavos, right? Ohhh… wait… you could never get married – no one could survive living with you forever"

"I can get married, Rickon. I just don't want to."

"So you don't have a boyfriend," Mom asked.

"No, I don't, Mom. I'm not seeing anyone."

"What about Aegon?" Mom asked.

"Or Jaqen?"

"No. Griff, I mean Aegon, is my best friend and roommate. And Jaqen is my friend, and mentor, and we just dance together." Arya was telling the truth, at least mostly, she did kiss and sleep with Jaqen, but they were never in a relationship – it was just a fun and no-strings attached thing.

"Are you planning to hook up at a wedding?" Rickon asked, and father immediately exclaimed.

"Rickon!" It was obvious Father hated thinking of his kids grown up and dating, even if Robb already had a kid, and Sansa was getting married this weekend. "We're almost here," Dad said, already seeing the sign to the Inn. "Could you two behave until them?" They consented to that, and Arya just laid back with her head on Bran's shoulder and looking at the game he was playing on his PSP.

Her brother had become very good at playing videogames, especially since the accident. Bran traded the adventures outside for the ones he could live in the small screen. And for the last couple of years, he and his friends were even making some money out of his gaming videos.

"We're here," Mother announced, and Rickon immediately threw the door opened, and ran off. "I still need to check if the Inn has vacancies."

"There's a sign saying there are, Mom," Bran informed them, and Arya wondered how he could have noticed that when he was looking at the screen.

"I need to check if there are enough rooms for all of us," Mom said, leaving the car. Arya got out too, wanting to stretch her legs; she ran for a bit, before Dad called for her, to help him with Bran's chair.

Bran always appreciated getting from the car to the chair alone, for years he could do it and rarely required help – unless it was unknown car, and it was too far from the ground.

As usually he got into the chair, Mom came back telling them there was room for them, and after a few yells Rickon heard and came back. Everyone helped with the bags, Bran took two bagbacks on his lap, while they took the other bags, divided by the four of them.

The inn looked really great; the building was mostly wood and looked like it was a really old place, but not in a scary, haunted way, in a cosy and familiar way.

"Hello again, ma'am. That must be your lovely family," the woman beyond the counter said.

"Yes, they are," Mom answered, coming to the counter.

"I'm Jeyne – anything you need, you can ask. And welcome to our inn. So it's two rooms, right? Any preference?"

"A double bed, and then a twin room with an extra bed. And you said you were equipped with…"

"Yes. It's in the twin room, right? I will just ask Gendry to prepare it – we have a system where we can take and put things on place as needed."

"They are safe and secure? There's not a chance that you get it wrong or…"

"It's great quality, I guarantee you, ma'am. You don't need to worry about that," Jeyne promised, and nobody seemed to think she wasn't being sincere. "The twin room can be downstairs too. But I only have double rooms in the upper level – would that be okay?"

"Yes, our kids are all grown ups."

"So I'll only need some identification now, and we can finish this," Jeyne said with a smile as she took Dad's ID, and filled a few papers and finished the deal.

"Okay, breakfast is served from 7.30 am to 10 am. But we also have a kitchen always opened, while I can't promise our cook at night – only my sister and I if you need anything. You can call downstairs anytime."

"Thank you, Jeyne," Mom thanked her again, taking a pair of keys.

"I'll call when the twin room is ready."

"Do you have a game room?" Rickon asked.

"We have snooker table in the dinning place; there's also a TV there, but I think it's already been requested by Mrs Smallwood – if you ask her nicely, she may let you change the channel. Also just look for Hot Pie or Lommy if you want anything to eat or drink."

"Thank you again, Jeyne," Mom said again, before turning to her kids. "You go on. Your dad and I are just going to drop our things in our room."

"Sure, that's all they gonna do," Rickon whispered conspiratorially to his sister who only laughed.

While their parents went upstairs, they took their own bags to the dinning room, where the snooker table was, Rickon got the balls and sticks, while Bran found a comfortable place and took out his PSP again. Arya and Rickon started a game, as they noticed a guy coming to watch Bran play.

"You kick ass, man. How did you learn to play like that?" Arya heard the guy say.

"I play a lot."

"Cool. Can I watch?"

"Sure. I'm Bran," her brother said, giving him his hand.

"Lommy. I also do the drinks if you want anything," he asked, looking up, but both Arya and Rickon shook their heads, and kept playing. They had played almost three full games when their parents came back – mother had changed her clothes and had her hair up – and they finished that one before Dad asked for a try. So for another game they played kids against parents, until Arya was too tired and sat back, looking over Bran's game with Lommy, and after awhile she decided to go and take a peak into their room.

* * *

Gendry couldn't remember when it had been the last time he had to install the bars in a room, so he wasn't having the easiest time with this stuff. It was mostly bathroom stuff, around the toilet, and a few extras in the tub (the bars were always there, since many people used it, especially the older guests).

He heard a knock after being there for awhile, and thinking it must be Jeyne or Willow asking if he needed help, he told them to come in.

"Hi," a voice he couldn't recognize said. "Need any help?" Gendry looked up at that, and found a girl looking down at him. But he could recognize her as the youngest Stark girl – Arya; Jeyne had searched the name online, when she recognized the last name and wondered if they were the famous Starks.

"I think I can do it," Gendry answered; he didn't know how to properly speak to her – he never knew how to act around people from a higher class.

"Are you sure? You've been here a long time," she said, taking a seat on the washbasin.

"You shouldn't seat…"

"Are you the boss?"

"No, but…"

"Are you going to tell the boss?"

"I guess not." For some reason, he wanted to please the girl.

"Good. So how's it going?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't put this together in a long time."

"I helped my dad when we added this stuff to our house – it may not be that different."

"You're a guest, you shouldn't…"

"I'm a guest, but I can still help," she said, coming closer. Gendry could feel her breathing on his neck, he could feel the heat of it, but it soon dispersed as she talked again. "I hold the bars, and you bolt them to the wall."

"We can try that," Gendry answered. And she had been right, it was easier this way, and it only took two tries to put the bars next to the toilet, he had already done the bathtub one, so they moved to the bedroom.

"Which bed will be your brother's?"

"Probably the one closest to the window – he will have more space for the chair. Unless the extra bed occupies too much space."

"Ahhh… It doesn't. I will bring it after I finish this."

"Cool. So what do you need now?"

"This is supposed to be able to attach to the bed, and it should be strong to hold an adult man."

"So let's do that," Arya jumped onto the bed, and waited for Gendry to join her; and Gendry didn't feel that it was safe doing it – they weren't doing anything, but if her parents came in, and saw them. "Come on, Gendry. We need to finish this."

He climbed next to her, and started adjusting stuff to the bed, while she looked on.

"Do you know any good restaurants here?"

"Ours is the best," he said, and she shot him a look, telling him to tell her the truth. "No, I'm saying the truth. There are good ones if you get closer to the capital, or other big cities; but close by – this one is the best. You need to try Hot Pie's food."

"Hot Pie?! Really?!"

"Don't mock my friend's name."

"Ohh… sorry," she said as her tone and face changed. And maybe Gendry sounded too hard or angry – he sometimes sounded like that, even without meaning to.

"Sorry… I was joking. Sure, don't mock him, but I wasn't mad or anything."

"Ohhh… Sorry, either way. But you definitely should work on your tone, or you'll scare everyone away."

"I'm not scaring anyone."

"Really?! You must scare all the girls away." Gendry wondered why everyone was so interested on his love life today.

"Thanks," he answered, not knowing what else to say.

Arya didn't say anything else, just lay back in the bed, while Gendry got the thing stuck to the bed and then tested it as best as he could.

"I think it's done."

"Can I test it?"

"I already tested it, but if you want to do it too." Arya picked up a chair and sat on it, before pulling herself up, and he now knew how to properly test it if he ever needed it again.

"It's working. Thanks, Gen."

"Gen?"

"Can I call you that?"

"Yeah, I think so," he said smiling; very few people ever called him that, but it sounded good in her voice. "And it was no problem, Arya. Our inn does have this service. I'll just get the bed now, and then you can come in."

"Any help?"

"No need." Gendry left the room, leaving the door half opened, and walked to the storage room.

"How's it going, Gendry?" Jeyne asked, as he walked through the lobby.

"Good. Just need the bed now."

"Need any help moving it?"

"Nahh… I can do it on my own, but thanks."

The beds were easier to find in the storage room than the stuff for disabled people he had gotten before, so he picked one up and went back to the room that would belong to the Starks for the night.

* * *

They had eaten at the Inn, and Gendry had been right – the food had been really good. They had gone with the chef's choice – pigeon pie; and neither Arya or her brothers had ever eaten it, or were that excited to eat the birds that populated every city, but they had been gladly surprised.

After dinner, their parents had gone for a walk through the small village, while Arya retired with her brothers to the snooker table, and then even convincing the owners to connect Bran's PS3 to the TV, and they had taken turns playing a few of the games he had brought, between the three Starks and the guys and one of the girls who worked here, and even one of the other guests, they had a championship that lasted awhile and made the night fun.

But now Arya was lying in bed, looking at the ceiling; both her brothers were already sleeping – she could hear their heavy breathing and snores. It was almost midnight, and it felt too hot – she should have gotten used to it now, living in Bravoos for the last few years, but she wasn't.

Then Arya thought of something she could do. Old Arya wouldn't have done it, Westeros Arya didn't do this – in Winterfell Arya lacked confidence in her looks and in the possibility of a relationship; she was always compared to her sister, who was the epitome of beauty; in Winterfell could still do this but not with the purpose she was doing it now.

In Bravoos, it was different, there was all kinds of beauty in there, not just one – she didn't need to fit a model; and Arya wasn't compared to anyone – so she couldn't help but feel now more confidence in her looks, especially after the couple of relationship she had had.

So Arya took her phone, where she had saved Gendry's number when he had left his phone alone to go and pick up the extra bed, and sent him a text.

 _Who are you?_ he texted back.

 _Arya_

 _How did you get my number?_

 _When you went to get the bed_ , she texted and a few seconds after she texted again. _Can't sleep. Meet me in the lobby_

Arya didn't wait for an answer, and left the bed, taking the extra key on the table and putting on her sneakers, she left the room. She hoped Gendry came too, and met her in the lobby. Arya waited in the lobby, sitting in one of the armchairs in there, she had been there for a few minutes now, and now she doubted if he was actually going to come – while she still felt like Bravoos Arya, this was Westeros, and Jeyne was beautiful and Arya was just Arya.

But Gendry appeared sooner than later, he was in the same clothes he had been using since she first saw him today, but she noticed he was in slippers instead of the sneakers he had before; he waved at her awkwardly, still in the centre of the lobby.

"I thought you weren't coming," she told him.

"I needed to change. I was already in bed."

"I didn't," she said, standing from the armchair. "I thought there would be someone here."

"It's a small place. But if anyone needs something, they can call and it's connected to our room."

"Our room?"

"I stay with Willow and Jeyne. A small bed."

"It must be bad if you want to bring someone over." Gendry blushed and looked away, before giving her an answer.

"I don't live here. The boys and I take turns staying over with them."

"Lommy and Hot Pie?"

"Yes. I share an apartment with him; each of us has a room."

"I share an apartment with a friend in Bravoos. It's fun. Even if I used to hate sharing a house with my siblings sometimes."

"Bravoos… as in the Free Cities…"

"Yes, stupid. Where would Bravoos be?" Gendry looked away again, and Arya thought that she maybe shouldn't call people she barely met stupid. But her thoughts were interrupted when the old clock in the dinning room rang 12 times. "It's midnight. Show me something."

"Like what?"

"You're the one who lives here; and I need to freshen up. It's really hot here."

"Didn't you just say you're living in Bravoos?"

"So you know Bravoos is hot, but you weren't sure about the Free Cities," she asked him smiling, and he only shrugged his shoulders.

"Would you like to come with me?" he asked, he offered his hand, but took it away almost immediately. Gendry went behind the counter and got one of the keys.

"You take girls to others rooms a lot."

"I don't. It's not a room… If you don't want to come, that's okay…"

"Let's go, Gendry." He walked two steps in front of her, they walked upstairs to a door, without a number, so she supposed he was telling the truth was not taking her to a room; there were more stairs behind the door, and at the end another door; but then finally a sky full of stars.

She was amazed, she hadn't seen a sky like this in a long time. Winterfell's sky was almost always covered with clouds, and in Bravoos the lights in the streets turned off the lights in the sky.

"I like coming here," Gendry told her. "The higher you are, the fresher it is," he said, pulling her along – there was a place with a few chairs, looking over a very small garden. "Hot Pie and Jeyne like keeping this little garden here – it gets us some vegetables, and herbs. And the flowers you see in the lobby are from here."

"It's beautiful," she said – it was such a small garden but with so many different colours.

Gendry cleaned up two of the chairs, and sat in one of them, waiting for Arya to take the other. When Arya finally took the other chair, she lay back, her arms over her head, and she closed her eyes, taking on the fresh hair.

"It's still hot in here."

"You know you had air conditioning in your room."

"Yeah…" Arya was thinking that she wasn't as good as flirting as she thought, or that this boy was just too stupid to get it. The heat was still bothering so much, she had now pulled her shirt up, trying to feel the fresh air on her belly; she closed her eyes and pulled her hair out of the way. "You know the days in Bravoos can be hot, but it always chills down in the night – and even during the day, it's never this hot. The sea…"

"King's Landing is much hotter. You always feel trapped, and closed in the cage of heat. Here I don't… this is good heat, not the one that trapped me there."

"You are from King's Landing, then?" she asked, turning on her side.

"Yes. I grew up with Hot Pie and Lommy, since I was six. The orphanage was closed down when I was thirteen, the children were scattered everywhere – we three were lucky to stay together and then were sent to the same orphanage Jeyne and Willow were, here in the Riverlands."

"Six?"

"My mom died when I was six. I did not have a father."

"I can't imagine not having my mom and dad." Gendry didn't answer to that, and Arya turned herself away from him, and looked up to the sky again.

She stayed there for awhile, just looking up to the sky, complaining about the heat every few minutes when each breath of hot air that came at her.

"You know there's a hose in here, if you want to…"

"Yes, please." It wasn't like she ever did this in Winterfell, the summer was never hot enough to shower outside.

"Do you want to stand up?"

"These are plastic chairs, right?" she asked, straitening herself up on the chair before giving him the go sign.

She heard him turn on the hose, and the water hitting the floor, a few seconds later she felt the water on her feet…

"Ohhh… I forgot to take off my sneakers…"

"Do you want to?"

"No. Just keep going."

The water went then up her legs, and she reached for it with her hand; Gendry must have noticed her playing with the water, because he didn't move the water from that place. Next the water hit her thighs and she had to ask him to lower the water pressure, he did as she asked; and quickly continued up.

"Arya, I won't spray you in the face."

"Right," she said, standing up and turning her back to him; he came closer and used the hose like it was an actual shower, putting it over his head.

"How does it feel?"

"Great," she said, smiling and twirling under the jet of fresh water.

"Can I turn it off now?" he asked, after what it must have been a few minutes."

"Sure," she said, dripping water into the floor, completely wet, she pulled her shirt from her body and was thankful that it was not white or any other light colour. "Do you think I have time to dry off here before it's time for breakfast?

"Yes, but won't your brothers worry if they wake up and you're not there."

"I have my phone," she said, picking it up and her hotel key from the floor, where she had put it before Gendry turned on the hose.

"Okay," he said lying on his chair as well. "I will stay with you."

They didn't talk much more that night, both falling asleep soon after (with their chairs closer than they were before); Arya woke up when the sun rose, and found herself dry, she stood up, smiled at the sleeping boy and retired to her room, hoping that she would have the chance to see him one more time before leaving.


End file.
